I've written often about the tax reform plan in Congress. One wrinkle with the Senate bill is the plan to repeal the Obamacare individual mandate. That move would not prevent a single person from getting health insurance. It would not reduce the subsidies paid to lower income people to help them afford health insurance. In other words, all it would do is take away the tax paid mostly (80%) by poor and lower middle class individuals for failing to buy health insurance.
The Democrats and the media tell us that this is an assault on people's healthcare, but it's not. It just gives to people who choose not to buy insurance the freedom from a tax that penalized them for that decision. The Democrats and the media all scream, "no, no, no! The CBO tells us that this decision would deprive 13 million people of healthcare!" For them, it's not people choosing to forego insurance; it's people being deprived of insurance. Of course, the catch is that if these people wanted insurance, they could buy it just like they can under the current law. But here's the biggest flaw in the Democrat/media argument: It turns out that just about half of the people who the CBO says would lose coverage get their current coverage under Medicaid. MEDICAID!!! Medicaid is free for those of low income. Get that? Something like six million people who now get free medical coverage under Medicaid would "lose" that coverage according to the CBO. The coverage is free now; it would still be free if the tax bill passes. The coverage is available to low income people now; it would be available to exactly the same people if the tax bill passes. There's no reason why anyone would drop out of Medicaid other than a personal choice.
Once you realize that the Democrat/media argument regarding the repeal of the individual mandate is based upon people who get coverage for free deciding they don't want it anyway, you can see just how flawed the Democrat/media argument really is.
But let's take it a bit further. Some of the Democrats and media (but not many) argue that by letting the poor and lower middle class decide to forego insurance, it will raise premiums for the others who buy insurance. In other words, the cash that these poor people have to fork over for their current coverage is, in essence, a subsidy for the wealthier people who are buying insurance without a government subsidy. The truth is that the Democrats/media group are trying to force the poor to subsidize the middle income and wealthy. The Democrats want taxes on the poor to give benefits to the rich. It's exactly what they falsely claim the GOP is doing, except the Dems really are pushing for it.
The Democrats and the media tell us that this is an assault on people's healthcare, but it's not. It just gives to people who choose not to buy insurance the freedom from a tax that penalized them for that decision. The Democrats and the media all scream, "no, no, no! The CBO tells us that this decision would deprive 13 million people of healthcare!" For them, it's not people choosing to forego insurance; it's people being deprived of insurance. Of course, the catch is that if these people wanted insurance, they could buy it just like they can under the current law. But here's the biggest flaw in the Democrat/media argument: It turns out that just about half of the people who the CBO says would lose coverage get their current coverage under Medicaid. MEDICAID!!! Medicaid is free for those of low income. Get that? Something like six million people who now get free medical coverage under Medicaid would "lose" that coverage according to the CBO. The coverage is free now; it would still be free if the tax bill passes. The coverage is available to low income people now; it would be available to exactly the same people if the tax bill passes. There's no reason why anyone would drop out of Medicaid other than a personal choice.
Once you realize that the Democrat/media argument regarding the repeal of the individual mandate is based upon people who get coverage for free deciding they don't want it anyway, you can see just how flawed the Democrat/media argument really is.
But let's take it a bit further. Some of the Democrats and media (but not many) argue that by letting the poor and lower middle class decide to forego insurance, it will raise premiums for the others who buy insurance. In other words, the cash that these poor people have to fork over for their current coverage is, in essence, a subsidy for the wealthier people who are buying insurance without a government subsidy. The truth is that the Democrats/media group are trying to force the poor to subsidize the middle income and wealthy. The Democrats want taxes on the poor to give benefits to the rich. It's exactly what they falsely claim the GOP is doing, except the Dems really are pushing for it.
No comments:
Post a Comment